This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Cooling systems have applicability in a number of different applications where a fluid is to be cooled. The fluid may be a gas, such as air, or a liquid, such as water. Example applications are heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) systems that are used for cooling spaces where people are present such as in offices and data centers. A data center may refer to a room having a collection of electronic devices, such as computer servers.
In FIG. 1, an air conditioner 50 that may be used in, for example, a computer room is shown. The air conditioner 50 includes a cooling circuit 51 and a cabinet 52. The cooling circuit 51 is disposed in the cabinet 52 and includes an evaporator 54, an air moving device 56, a compressor 58, a condenser 60, and an expansion valve 62. The evaporator 54, compressor 58, condenser 60 and expansion valve 62 are connected in a closed loop in which a cooling fluid (e.g., phase change refrigerant) circulates. The evaporator 54 may include a V-coil assembly with multiple cooling slabs to provide increased cooling capacity. The evaporator 54 receives the cooling fluid and cools air passing through openings in evaporator 54. The air moving device 56 (e.g., a fan or squirrel cage blower) draws the air from an inlet (not shown) in the cabinet 52 and through the evaporator 54. The cooled air is directed from the evaporator 54 and out of a plenum 64 in the cabinet 52.
The compressor 58 circulates the cooling fluid through the condenser 60, the expansion valve 62, the evaporator 54 and back to the compressor 58. The compressor 58 may be, for example, a scroll compressor. A scroll compressor may be a fixed speed, digital, or variable speed compressor. A scroll compressor typically includes two offset spiral disks. The first spiral disk is a stationary disk or scroll. The second spiral disk is an orbiting scroll. The cooling fluid is received at an inlet of the scroll compressor, trapped between the offset spiral disks, compressed, and discharged at a center (or outlet) towards the condenser 60. The condenser 60 may be a micro-channel condenser that cools the cooling fluid received from the compressor 58. The expansion valve 62 may be an electronic expansion valve and may expand the cooling fluid out of the condenser 60 from, for example, a liquid to a vapor.
A position of the expansion valve 62 (or opening percentage of the expansion valve) may be adjusted to control a suction superheat value of the compressor 58. The suction superheat value of the compressor is equal to a compressor suction temperature minus a compressor saturated suction temperature. A compressor suction pressure may be used to determine the compressor saturated suction temperature. The compressor suction temperature and the compressor suction pressure may be determined based on signals from corresponding sensors connected between the evaporator 54 and the compressor 58. The superheat value refers to an amount that a temperature of a cooling fluid, in a gas state, is heated above the compressor saturated suction temperature.
The superheat value can be used to modulate (or adjust) position of the expansion valve 62. Position (or opening percentage) control of the expansion valve 62 may be performed by a proportional, integral, derivative (PID) control module. The PID control module controls the superheat value to match a constant predetermined superheat setpoint. This ensures compressor reliability and improves compressor efficiency.